‘Today was a win by the players and supporters’ – Vitor Pereira on his dream start to life at Nottingham Forest | OneFootball

New Nottingham Forest boss Vitor Pereira says his players and the supporters deserve the credit for his dream start to life at the club.

Pereira’s first game in charge saw Forest beat Fenerbahce 3-0 in their Europa League play-off first leg thanks to goals from Murillo, Igor Jesus and Morgan Gibbs-White.

“Very happy for my players and the supporters,” Pereira said after the game.

“Today was a win by the players and the supporters. Not by the manager, because the manager had just three days to prepare the match.

“They have the quality and today, especially in the first half, they express the talent they have, the qualities they have, and with organisation.

“When I analyse the squad and the team, I accepted the job because I believe in the players and the quality of the players. I believe in the club, I believe in the president, and I believe in the supporters.

“This is about confidence. I said to them football is about, at the end of the game, we need to feel proud of ourselves, what we did, what we express.”

Pereira says his side’s mentality was they key to victory, continuing: “We cannot control the result but we can control the effort, what we do with confidence, and this is the difference, the way they started the game. This is not tactical, this is mentally, what I ask them.

“Mentally you must be ready to face a team in this stadium with the passion of the supporters. But we must send a message to them since the first minute and must be ready mentally to do it.

“We are at half time. The second game will be tough for sure and we must be ready, mentally ready more than tactically, to face them again.”